Earlier this week, we wrote about the recent Kentucky Court of Appeals case Kindred Healthcare, Inc. v. Cherolis, No. 2012-CA-002074-MR (Ky. Ct. App. Oct. 11, 2013). In Cherolis, the Daviess Circuit Court denied a motion by Kindred to compel arbitration of the claims brought by Cherolis (as Executrix of her mother’s estate). Immediately following the trial court’s ruling on the motion, Kindred appealed to the Kentucky Court of Appeals. More >

Shockwaves rippled through Kentucky’s long-term care communities in 2012 when the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled in Ping v. Beverly Enterprises, Inc. that a power of attorney (POA) for property, financial affairs and health care was insufficient the principal (or her estate) to an optional arbitration agreement.[1]More >

On Tuesday, I provided some common sense tips for prescribers to use when issuing a KASPER-regulated medication. Now, let’s take a look at how the prescriber can better understand the KASPER report.[1] More >

The Kentucky General Assembly passed House Bill 1, also known as the “pill mill bill” in 2012. Following its enactment, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and various licensure boards issued regulations implementing its requirements. It was soon realized that the law would need some refinement to address concerns raised by the provider community and stakeholders. In 2013, House Bill 217 amended portions of House Bill 1 to address some unintended consequences of the original legislation. One of those amendments was giving an exemption to hospitals, long-term care facilities and approved researchers from the law’s requirement to report controlled substances administered directly to patients through the state’s description drug monitoring system, KASPER. However, for those licensees not exempt from the reporting, it remains a stringent requirement that a KASPER report is filed within one day of dispensing a controlled substance. (See more on HB 217 here.) More >

HealthCare.gov’s technical woes are expected to be fixed by November 30th. But, those fixes might come too late for a certain subset of needed enrollees – the young and healthy. The purpose behind the Affordable Care Act’s individual health insurance mandate was to ensure that private insurers would get enough young, healthy people in the system who could offset the costs of covering older and sicker, Medicaid-eligible patients. More >

It is no secret that the federal HealthCare.gov has received less than rave reviews since its October 1st roll-out. The states who have relied on the federal government to run their marketplaces have encountered numerous problems, from glitches to process delays to complete inaccessibility. Kentucky (the only southern state which opted to run its own health insurance marketplace and expand Medicaid), however, has shone like a beacon in the turbulent exchange introduction period. It is quite surprising that Kentucky, consistently near the bottom in health rankings and with approximately 625,000 uninsured citizens, would be the model for anything health care-related. Here is how Kentucky is leading the nation with its exchange site: More >